A PRECISION INSTRUMENT by Liz Manning

A poem is a precision instrument,

Each word’s worth weighed

And held to account.

Like neurosurgeon’s knife

Accuracy is everything.



I wrote this a few years ago. Joining ACW and developing my writing, I’ve learned that the principle holds true for all writing, whether you’re a poet, a preacher, a tweeter, or a novelist. I’ve learned it especially by writing for this blog with the discipline of holding to a word count.

Thinking about how the media is dealing with the coronavirus at the moment, it strikes me too how essential accuracy and careful word selection is in conveying written factual information.

How easily the wrong words can scaremonger and turn people to panic rather than action – I’ve seen the effect on a fellow health professional because she gets all her information only from one particular newspaper. How leaving out detail can significantly change tone or meaning – think of the quoting of Boris Johnson’s comment about ‘taking it on the chin’ without the rest of what he said. How well illustrations can back up simple instructions – all those handwashing posters, for example.

These are key considerations for all of us as writers.

It’s also made me think about how easy it is to value or romanticise one type of writing over another. Or is this just me?

Surely authors and poets, especially those with published books, top the charts? Articles for the church magazine? Definitely lower down. Blogging? Depends according to number of followers and invitations to guest blog on other popular sites. Writing up patient notes or an information leaflet? Designing a poster for an event? Definitely near the bottom of the rankings.

We/I can also fall into the trap of seeing only certain types of writing as callings. Sermons, hymns, devotionals, these are the obvious ones. But I’ve heard many writers, including myself, talking about how they feel most themselves when they write or how they feel a sense of vocation to do it.

But what about the less spiritual type of writing? Can’t that be a calling too?

I think of one of my local ACW group friends. She’s a specialist nurse and has been in the process of writing an academic piece for a medical journal. It’s been extremely carefully researched and written to very precise guidelines. The experience she’s had and the knowledge her career has brought means that she may be the only person who can write with authority about this specific condition. This is important teaching that perhaps only she can do.

It may not be romantic but that certainly sounds like a calling from God to me.

Personally, I tend to think of the writing I do at home as more of a calling: the poetry and the blogging, the Bible stories I adapt for Boys’ Brigade. But I forget the news articles I write for our church magazine. And I ignore the advice booklets I write for patients and carers at work, or the editing my boss asks me to do because she knows I have an eye for misspellings or a misused apostrophe.

It’s perhaps a mistake to ignore the talent God has given us that can be used well, and therefore used to His glory, in so many ways.

So let’s value and celebrate all the types of writing we do. Let’s strive for precision in all of them. And let’s ask God for His hand on all of it.

Liz Manning fits writing around being an Occupational Therapist, BB captain, wife, and mum to two adult sons. Or perhaps it's the other way round. She blogs regularly at https://thestufflifeismadeofblog.wordpress.com/